These Are My JOTtings, Part #2

A Christmas Prayer

The temperatures are newly cold
with Christmas almost here.
The wrapping paper's neatest folds
show gifts so wondrously clear.

"Please, help me, Lord, to keep these days
of Christmas in my heart.
How swiftly they run with light displays
to the end from whence they start.

"Your great Son's Birth is why we joy.
December's full of light.
Please, make it last more than a toy,
and fill us with hope so bright.

"Please, give us Christmas joy all through
the year, until the days
of lights and decorations new,
with love and kindness obeyed.

"Eternal life when this one's done,
so blest by sights and sounds.
Please, gift our loved ones by Your Son,
that ever Hope abounds.

"The Greatest Gift, that sunny morn
was Jesus living new.
Salvation's Bliss from death was torn.
The work of Life was through.

"Please, send Your Invitation's Call (John 6:44)
to those we know and love,
and to the rest, whose 'life' is pall,
the canceled debt remove.

"'Amen,' we cheer. God's Christ has come.
We pray in Jesus' Name.
The new year's Hope be His dear Sum
to rest, no more in shame."

by Jay O’Toole
on December 19th, 2022